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Today we’re looking at some monkey business with the French FAMAS rifle deep down in the Amazon rainforest. This picture is from 2020, but the FAMAS is soon history, for good and bad. The FAMAS replacement, which is the Heckler & Koch HK416, is still being distributed step by step to various Army regiments. But it’s going to take a while before all the units have been fitted with the HK416.
Below: It’s raining water and bullets.
Constance N./armée de Terre/Défense
The French Army produced a video from the training. At around 03:30 into the video, the shooting starts. With some more at around 05:20, including the FAMAS. Night vision in the jungle must be an interesting experience.
From the end of January to the end of March, 27 officers and non-commissioned officers attended the Jaguar course provided by the equatorial forest training center of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment, based in Guyana.
Objective: to command and fight with his section in an equatorial environment.In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, this nine-week annual training course, including seven in the forest, is provided by instructors from the 3rd REI, with the participation of executives from the two regiments of the Armed Forces in Guyana (FAG) .
Renowned among our foreign partners for its harshness, this internship requires a solid physical and mental condition to be completed. Hostility of climate and environment reinforce trainees at all times, but the emphasis is on infantry fighting and command in a harsh environment.
Created in its current form in 1987, the CEFE has four objectives. First, the hardening of the soldiers, which aims to strengthen cohesion and push to surpass oneself. Second, operational readiness for units that will be engaged in jungle operations, such as the AGF since 2008 in Operation Harpie. Third, the training of future forest section heads, a mission for which the 1,000 hectares that the center covers offers an unparalleled wealth of training situation for the benefit of the trainees. The shooting skills, navigation, combat in the forest or mangrove, the expertise of the instructors make CEFE a privileged training base. The expertise of the equatorial environment is the fourth mission of CEFE: every year the 3rd REI tests equipment and adapts the know-how of the army to the Guyanese environment.
The Jaguar course provided by the CEFE is an important factor in the international influence of the French army. The center is now recognized worldwide, more particularly by the countries of the region, in particular Brazil with whom training exchanges take place between CEFE and the famous CIGS jungle school in Manaus.
All pictures via Armée de Terre (France), taken by Constance N.